Exclusive:Taking control of British Steel 'got attention' of US ahead of trade deal, Business Secretary says

Mr Reynolds, the Business Secretary, was today at the iconic Sheffield Forgemasters plant to celebrate the deal, which he said “means more jobs, more investment and more money in the UK”.

Howard Lutnick, the US Commerce Secretary, said on Thursday that “the British government, as part of this deal, nationalised British Steel”.

Last month, Mr Reynolds took control of the Scunthorpe plan to ensure that the raw materials arrived in order to keep the two blast furnaces running.

It’s the only place in the UK that can produce virgin steel, and the company’s Chinese shareholders Jingye had announced plans to shut down the blast furnaces.

The Business Secretary denied that this was a stipulation in the deal, but said he had got support from the US.

He told The Yorkshire Post from Sheffield Forgemasters: “It’s not the case that the action we took on British Steel was connected to this deal.

“That was obviously something we chose to do in the national interest of the UK.

“We had a lot of messages from colleagues in the US, I think it got their attention in how decisive we were in securing that national interest.

“The US, as is the public domain, is very concerned with the cases of some other countries’ supply chains and making sure that any measures, such as between the US and China, aren’t circumvented in any way.

“So it wasn’t a part of the deal, but it was something that the US has taken a close interest in.”

He also paid tribute to Sheffield Forgemasters as an “absolutely brilliant business with a great history” and said it would benefit hugely from the new trade agreement.

Forgemasters, near Meadowhall, traces its history back to a blacksmith forge in the 1750s.

It was nationalised in 2021 and now focuses on high-end defence components for the UK armed forces, and other countries around the world.

“It’s got so much going on here that’s contemporary, that’s for the future as well, particularly because it’s got such significant exports to the US,” the Business Secretary added.

“So it’s a great place to come to say this deal means more jobs, more investment, more money, more growth, more prosperity, higher wages in the UK.”

However, Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, said the exact details of the deal for the industry had not yet been revealed, including when it comes into force and which steel producers will be included.

He told Times Radio: “The headline here is that we’re really pleased with Government’s negotiating ability to scrap that 25 per cent tariff burden that we have suffered since March. But yes, we don’t know the details.

“We don’t know when this deal comes into force for steel, we don’t know what conditions we need to meet in order to remove the 25 per cent tariff, and we don’t know, crucially also, if all steel producers that export to the US market will be included or excluded.

“There may be issues around ownership, around where the steel is made, and until we see those details, we don’t know whether this heavy burden will be lifted from us.”

Plane engines and other aeroplane parts are excluded from trade tariffs as part of the deal, and British Airways’s parent company has already bought 32 new Boeing planes from the US, following the agreement.

While Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, brushed aside suggestions the UK is no better off than before Mr Trump’s tariffs were first introduced.

He told the BBC: “If I could rather be in a world where there were no tariffs, of course I would. But that’s just not the world that exists. So it’s not really an option on the table. The option on the table is to have not signed a trade deal with the United States and had higher tariffs, or to have signed a trade deal with the United States and had lower tariffs.

“We’ve signed that trade deal. We’ve got lower tariffs in critical manufacturing sectors in the UK. 150,000 people’s livelihoods that we’ve protected as a consequence of that trade deal.

“That is, by definition, factually better off as a consequence of the action that this Government is taking to stand up for working people across the UK.”

Mr Jones later elaborated that the 150,000 figure included the families of those whose jobs may be impacted in the car, steel and aluminium sectors.